Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

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Hurley
Jorge Garcia as Hurley
First appearance	"Pilot"
Centric episodes	"Numbers" "Exodus, Part 2" "Everybody Hates Hugo" "Dave" "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead"
Information
Name	Hugo Reyes
Status	At the survivors' camp
Profession	Formerly a worker in a fast food chain, multi-million dollar lottery winner
Portrayed by	Jorge Garcia

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Hugo Reyes, better known by the nickname "Hurley," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jorge Garcia. Reyes at times serves as the show's comic relief, and in episodes focusing on him, is a more serious character.

[edit] Fictional character biography

[edit] Prior to the crash

Hurley is a Latino from the Los Angeles area. His father left his family when he was young, and his sadness over this may be one of the factors that contributed to his weight gain (he was quite thin during his younger years). Later in his life, Hurley was involved in an accident in which a deck that he and 23 other people were standing on collapsed, leaving two people dead. Believing his weight was the cause of the deck's collapse, Hurley felt tremendous guilt and went into a catatonic state, doing nothing except eating constantly. When he snapped out of it, his mother admitted him to a mental hospital (where, unbeknownst to him, Libby was also a patient). John Locke's biological mother also attended the same mental health hospital as Hurley and Libby, at one point in her life.

In the mental hospital, Hurley's doctor — Dr. Brooks — attempts to ease Hurley's guilt, explaining that the deck was built to only hold eight people, so Hurley's presence was a moot point — the deck would have collapsed whether he was there or not. Hurley also meets Dave, a man who seems to be the only normal person in the place, although he advises Hurley to eat all he wants and ignore Brooks's orders to diet and to take his prescribed clonazepam, which Hurley follows. Eventually, Brooks takes a photograph of Dave and Hurley. When he shows the picture to Hurley, only Hurley is there — Dave does not exist at all. He is only a figment of Hurley's imagination, the part of Hurley's mind that does not want him to get better, and wants him to eat to ease his guilt. Despite Hurley's realising that Dave is an imaginary friend — albeit a very real one that even slaps him - he almost escapes the mental hospital with Dave's urging. At the last minute, Hurley refuses to leave because he wants to get better, rejecting Dave. This was a breakthrough in Hurley's recovery, and he was released from the mental hospital soon after.

Hurley gets his old job back at Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack and moves back in with his mother. One day, he becomes extremely wealthy, winning a $114-million lottery using numbers that were always muttered by a former fellow psychiatric patient named Leonard. The day after the winning draw, Hurley quits his job and spends the day with his friend Johnny (DJ Qualls); he hopes their carefree ways will continue despite his sudden wealth, but Johnny is clearly shaken by the revelation. Afterwards, people around Hurley are afflicted with misfortunes: his grandfather suddenly dies during an interview with news crews; lightning strikes the priest at the funeral; his brother loses his wife to another woman; his mother breaks her ankle while getting out of the car to see the new home Hurley has bought for her; the house then catches fire; and he is falsely arrested after being mistaken for a drug dealer. Johnny also ends up running off with Hurley's girlfriend, Starla.

Hurley, however, continues to experience incredibly good luck and his acquisitions continue to accumulate: over-insurance on a sneaker company he owns pays off when a fire consumes the factory and causes several deaths; his false arrest results in a hefty settlement; and he acquires ownership of a box company in Tustin, California, which Locke and his former manager at the Chicken Shack worked at. By the time of the crash, his net worth is $156 million. Despite this, Hurley eventually comes to believe that the lottery numbers he used — 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 — were cursed.

When Hurley returns to the hospital to discover the origin of "the numbers," the patient he acquired them from, Leonard, reveals that he heard them when working with a naval officer named Sam Toomey. The two of them had heard the numbers when monitoring radio signals from the Pacific Ocean. Hurley decides to head to Australia to seek out Toomey and get answers, but his mother again worries for her son's mental state, unsuccessfully trying to convince him that he is not cursed. When Hurley's previous place of employment, Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack (which he bought), is smashed by a meteorite, killing local reporter Tricia Tanaka and whoever else was inside, Hurley decides he must go to Australia no matter what before more people die.

Hurley's father reappears, angering Hurley since he had been gone for 17 years. It turns out his mother called him to talk sense into Hurley about his curse. Hurley's father attempts to bond with his son, but Hurley is too angry and suspicious about his father's motives, especially after he paid off a psychic to pretend that she knew how to lift his curse. Before Hurley leaves for Australia, his father admits that he came back because of the money, but he actually did want to bond with Hurley again and promises to wait for him until he returns.

Hurley tracks down Toomey to his home in the outback of Australia, only to find out from his wife that he had also thought the numbers were cursed, and killed himself to finally escape them. Hurley is on Flight 815 while returning from this visit, despite many incidents that almost cause him to miss the flight, because he does not want to miss his mother's birthday. Hurley now believes that the crash of Flight 815 was his fault.

The nickname "Hurley" has a long history, according to him, which has not yet been explained.

[edit] After the crash

Since coming to the island, Hurley quickly bonds with Jack and Charlie, and manages to sustain fairly strong relationships with everyone else, probably due to his apparent friendliness and straightforwardness. However, he opens up to very few people on the island. He reveals his secret — he is worth millions of dollars — only to Charlie, Walt, Jack, and Libby (if deleted scenes are considered canon). Although Charlie and Walt treat his revelation as a joke, Jack gives little reaction. Hurley appears to be happy-go-lucky and often provides comic relief. He is very active on the island, creating a golf course to ease people's tensions; taking the census that reveals that Ethan was not on the flight; heading into the jungle to find Rousseau; and ultimately recovering a battery for Sayid to use for the raft's radar.

Hurley accompanies Danielle, Jack, Locke, Kate, and Arzt into the jungle in the season finale of Season 1. With Arzt's demise, Hurley again assumes the blame for everyone's misfortune. After returning to the hatch, Hurley discovers that the serial number on the hatch matches the numbers he played in the lottery, and he unsuccessfully tries to keep Locke from blowing the hatch open. Once Desmond abandons the underground bunker to the castaways, Hurley is assigned the job of inventory in the supply closet. His previous experience with sudden privilege makes him fearful of what the food distribution task will mean to his standing with the others. He is prepared to blow up the bunker's pantry with the unused pack of dynamite from the Black Rock, but Rose talks him out of it. He decides instead to hand the food out freely as a kind of Santa Claus, pointing out to Jack there is no feasible way to ration it.

Hurley discusses the hatch with Charlie.

Hurley thinks he has a chance for a romantic relationship with Libby in the episode "The Hunting Party". Hurley becomes closer to Libby while doing laundry with her in "Fire + Water", and although he has the feeling that he knows her from somewhere else, he does not remember that they were both patients at the same mental hospital.

In "One of Them", we find out that Hurley has a secret stash of food from the hatch. Sawyer catches him with the food and blackmails him into finding the tree frog that is bothering him. He tells Sawyer that even if he reveals his secret, he is aware that he is fat and that he has always been that way. He also says that even though he has stolen food, his popularity means that people are more likely to believe him than Sawyer. Hurley is also discovered eating from his secret stash of food by Sun in "The Whole Truth".

In "Dave", Hurley destroys his secret stash of food, wanting to diet with Libby's help. This is put to the test when there is a sudden delivery of new food supplies from an unknown source. On top of that, Hurley starts seeing Dave again. He tells Hurley that his recovery from the mental hospital never happened, and life on the island is all a figment of his imagination. According to Dave, he indeed does exist in real life, and after refusing to escape with him, Hurley went into another and more severe catatonic state, which Dave claims Hurley is still in today. He uses examples to back his claim up: Leonard's "numbers" appear everywhere, Hurley has not lost any weight, he won the lottery, and an attractive woman like Libby is actually interested in him. Dave says he has suddenly appeared in Hurley's mind because Hurley subconsciously wants to "wake up." Dave suggests that Hurley commit suicide by jumping off a cliff to "wake up." However, Libby stops Hurley just in time and assures him that everything is really happening, supporting the claim by demonstrating that he does not know everything that happened to the survivors on the other side of the island. She then kisses him as further evidence.

Hurley and Libby then begin a short-lived romantic relationship, which ends tragically. While in the hatch to get some blankets that Hurley forgot to bring along on a romantic picnic, Libby is shot by Michael. She is mortally wounded, and Hurley is by Libby's side as she dies soon afterwards. He tearfully tells her that he is sorry about forgetting the blankets.

Hurley digs Libby's grave and Kate digs Ana Lucia's. Michael asks Hurley to join him for the attack on the Others' camp, but Hurley is too sad to do so. This angers Michael, who - unbeknownst to Hurley - was told to bring him (along with Jack, Kate, and Sawyer) to the Others in order to get Walt back. During the funeral, as Hurley gives a eulogy for Libby, he becomes angry over her death and tells Michael that he will join him after all.

In "Live Together, Die Alone", Hurley goes with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Michael to confront the Others. On the way, a large, green flying creature briefly swoops over the group, and Hurley hears what he believes to be the creature shrieking his name. Michael leads the group into an ambush, where the Others knock out Sawyer with a dart to the neck. Before he is also shot, Jack tells everyone to run. In response, Hurley puts his arms over his head and freezes. It is possible that Hurley was not shot, since he apparently did not try to resist or escape. The Others bring their captives to a dock, bound and gagged. After Michael is reunited with Walt, Ms. Klugh frees Hurley, telling him to go back to his beach. She says that his job is to tell everyone else that they must never come to the other side of the island. Hurley asks about his friends, and Henry Gale replies that they will be staying with the Others now. Hurley clearly does not want to go, but Jack nods, signaling that it is all right for him to leave, which he reluctantly does.

In "Further Instructions", Hurley is almost killed by Locke, who mistook him for a polar bear emerging from the brush. He explains the capture of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, and relays the Others' warning about coming to their side of the island. As Hurley continues his way back to the camp, he runs into Desmond, who is naked after the hatch implosion. He gives some spare clothes to him, and during their walk to camp, Desmond mentions that Locke said he would rescue Jack, Kate, and Sawyer during a speech, but Hurley points out no speech has been given as Locke just found out about their capture. When Locke and Charlie return to camp with Eko, and the survivors begin to panic at Hurley's news, Locke tells everyone that he will rescue Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Hurley realizes that Desmond somehow saw the future.

In "Flashes Before Your Eyes", Hurley and Charlie decide to go through Sawyer's stash for the benefit of the other survivors, though Hurley remains uncertain about the procedure. They are soon confronted by Desmond, who leads them to Locke and Sayid. After learning of the death of Eko, Hurley notices that Desmond is up to something. He, along with everyone else, follow him back to the beach, where they witness him rescuing Claire from drowning. Later, he and Charlie decide to coax the truth from Desmond regarding the hatch's implosion. They offer Desmond a bottle of whiskey, to which he willingly accepts, and spend the rest of the day getting drunk. Seeing Desmond in a vulnerable state, Hurley then begins to talk about Desmond's ability to predict the future. He soon finds himself pulling Desmond off of Charlie, whose plans of provoking him into confessing had backfired.

In "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead", Hurley is sat by Libby's grave, saying how much he misses her, and places a flower on her grave. Soon after, he spots Charlie, and manages to tell him about Desmond's prediction regarding his fate. Whilst they are talking, they spot Vincent with the arm of a skeleton in his mouth. Hurley decides to chase after him, and is eventually led to an overturned van. With the keys in his possession, Hurley returns to camp and asks for volunteers to help him with it. However, only Jin is willing to help, and the two return to the van. After a while of investigating, and finding DHARMA beer and a file of documents, Sawyer arrives, who is hugged by a relieved Hurley. Sawyer decides to help him and Jin turn over the van. Hurley then tries to start the engine, but is unsuccessful and, after being unintentionally inspired by Sawyer, he rushes to the beach and confronts Charlie, managing to free him from his depressive behaviour. The two, with the help of Jin and Sawyer, manage to get the van atop the hill. With Hurley and Charlie inside the van, they are pushed down the hill, where Hurley eventually manages to pop the clutch into gear and starts the engine. Narrowly avoiding the jagged rocks at the bottom of the hill, Hurley drives it into an open field, where the four of them go joy-riding. While Charlie, Sawyer and Jin return with renewed hope, Hurley decides to remain behind at the van. In "Enter 77", Hurley beats Sawyer at a game of ping-pong, resulting in Sawyer unable to give nicknames to the other survivors for a week. This was obviously hard for Sawyer.

In "Exposé", Hurley and Sawyer are playing ping pong when Nikki stumbles out of the jungle and collapses. They rush over, where Nikki utters a few words before lying motionless. (These words later end up being "Paralyze") Hurley pronounces her dead, unaware of her temporary paralysis. He then begins an investigation over the cause of it, along with Sawyer, Charlie and Sun. Hurley, Sawyer and Jin venture into the jungle, where they discover Paulo, also lying motionless. Hurley yells at Sawyer for disposing of Paulo's water bottle, suspecting that they were poisoned and that he threw away some possible evidence. Later, he and Charlie examine Dr. Leslie Arzt's insect collection, coming across a script from the television show Exposé. He then approaches Desmond, asking for some information. He tells him that Sawyer and Nikki were arguing earlier that morning. Hurley confronts Sawyer, where he also reveals that they had a gun and a radio, as well as a pouch of diamonds. Believed dead but actually in a spider bite induced coma, Nikki and Paulo are buried on the beach along with the diamonds that they had stolen from Nikki's former 'lover' after they killed him.

In "Left Behind", Hurley approaches Sawyer, and cautions him that he risks being banished unless he resolves his issues with his fellow castaways. Hesitant at first, he reluctantly agrees to accept Hurley's help, and he convinces Sawyer to act friendly to the other islanders. The next day, Hurley reveals that there never was any risk of banishment, but tells Sawyer that he thinks he should be the new temporary leader of the group.

[edit] Trivia

• Jorge Garcia was the first actor cast for the first season of Lost, as mentioned in the featurette, "Before They Were Lost," in the first season DVD.
• Hurley's boss at Mr. Cluck's, Randy Nations, was also Locke's boss at the box factory. According to the official Lost podcast, Hurley felt sorry for Randy after Mr. Cluck's was destroyed by a meteorite and gave him a job at the box factory; this sequence of events was partially seen on the show.
• Young Hurley is played by Caden Waidyatilleka.

• Hurley is a fan of the fake television show “Exposé” as seen when, In “Numbers” his mom asks him if he is watching the show with the G-String women . Nikki acted as a guest star on “Exposé”.

[edit] References